Starting from square one

Well, i have a few ideas for flash games/movies, but absolutely no way of making them. All i can do is digital art, pixel art, hand drawn art and animations. I don't even have a proper flash program! I have something called 3D flash animator, but it's just a trial and the trial time has run out, so i can't export anything even if i managed to make something.

So, i need help to start. Which is the best (preferably free) program, how does the basics work, etc.
Thanks in advance! ^_^"

'So sweet to lose a friend, you leave the church and taste the air in your lungs.
Old lies and fireflies, carve angels on your eyes and all is undone.'
~ TUNNG, "Bullets"

My guess would be that there aren't any free programs out there that can make really good games. GameMaker could make stuff, but can only make games into .exe files, not Flash files. I would recommend talking to people you know asking if you can have a copy of their software. That's how I got my copy of Flash 5. As for learning how, Google would be your best bet for free, but I use something called Lynda.com. They have very good learning resources, except they cost money. I've found them to very helpful with Flash 5.

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The sad truth is, Adobe doesn't offer anything for people who are starting out, beyond that 30 day trial. Flash is an extremely powerful program, yet most people only want to use it for a percentage of what it's capable of (and admittedly, I'm one of them).

Sometimes you can get a massive educational discount through your school (though that;s probably mostly colleges), but for starting out, Flash 6 is perfect. You can definitely get it for cheap, through ebay or Amazon or somewhere else like that.

Lets face it, though, there's clearly a demand and Adobe is not meeting it. And it really, really makes me mad at them for it. Most starting artists are going to be pirating Flash because they can't afford it, and there's no stripped down version that's, say, 100 bucks, and is for only animating and simple programming.

I honestly might try to get in touch with someone at Adobe and discuss this with them...

I'm a business, I bought Flash CS3 just because I have an Intel Mac, all my software that I use to work is bought and paid for, so I can't have any sort advocation of piracy in my forum.

That being said, Adobe is clearly sucking at delivering a product that is highly in demand.

Doodle, sketch, draw, design, fill notebooks with elaborate scenes, funny character designs, and gameplay ideas.
Find your own personal style and run with it. Craft characters and stories that you love.
Enjoy your own work, and donâ€™t be afraid to show it off. Create.

Oops, I guess my post kinda falls under piracy too. Brad has an interesting idea, to check out educational discounts. If nothing else, go to your local college bookstore and see if you can get one there. I've done that with some stuff, and they can order stuff for you.

Just got back on the internet after losing my access for a week. Read more on Random Discussion.

A good way to get money off would be from government-funded things. Like over here we get LSF (Learner's Support Fund) which essentially allows you to reclaim Â£100 on things you buy for "college". Stationary and the like (although I majority of mine was reclaimed on video games (for media text analysis) but that's beside the point).

Doodle, sketch, draw, design, fill notebooks with elaborate scenes, funny character designs, and gameplay ideas.
Find your own personal style and run with it. Craft characters and stories that you love.
Enjoy your own work, and donâ€™t be afraid to show it off. Create.

We cant discuss illegal software in here? Ok I'll keep that in mind.
My flash MX is a copy too, so I'd advise that, like VG.
I'm actually pretty sure Adobe would make more money if they lowered their prices.
$300 for flash is just not worth it, thats why I took a friend's copy.
If they would sell Flash 8 for, lets say, $40, thousands of people would buy it. Including me, even if I can get it illegal.

I'm still surprised you bought Flash CS3. I mean, for adobe's price you can get pc (or a car, according to Borat)

I don't think i know anyone who has flash, so borrowing it is kinda out of question. I don't think the government could help me either.
300$ is 1950 swedish kronor.. I could get that in two months, if i don't buy any new clothes, and if my parents can affort to give me the 1000 kronor i'm supposed to get... That is a possible option, though i'd prefer some other way..

That sponsor idea is quite dang nice.. I suppose you are talking about online gaming sites, like armorgames?

Though, i wouldn't want to waste the trial time by learning, so.. Could anyone give me a quick briefing on how making flash games work? Do i put transparent gifs together and fill out a field with coding? Does the drawings have to be done in flash, or can i import them? Can i add MP3 files as background music? Such stuff.

And btw, i really, really appreciate all the help i get here! It's really nice of you!

'So sweet to lose a friend, you leave the church and taste the air in your lungs.
Old lies and fireflies, carve angels on your eyes and all is undone.'
~ TUNNG, "Bullets"

Hey Brad, don't you guys do something like that on Newgrounds? Like make a game in 30 days or something?

That quick briefing would be nice, but I have a feeling you can't just tell someone how to make a game in a few paragraphs. Try going through some of the threads in this topic (Game Development) for stuff like platforms.

Remember when Brad thought about making a simple platformer step-by-step to demonstrate? You still thinkin about that?

Just got back on the internet after losing my access for a week. Read more on Random Discussion.